Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice - (My birthday giveaway)

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me~~~

To celebrate my Happy Birthday, Maddy girl and I donned our tiaras - because after all it is my birthday and we all get to be a princess on our birthdays - that's the rule! Maddy won her tiara in a beauty contest - mine came from the dollar store (sigh~~).

She was so fascinated with the birthday cake - (she kept saying cake, cake, eat, eat!) that she did not give a thought to wearing her tiara. Uh oh - she is a natural born princess! I might have to take some responsibility for this later!





The best part of a birthday cake (if you are a toddler) - (or someone old like me ) - is sticking your fingers in the icing! Ummm! You can get by with such silly things if you are playing with the little one !

~~~

My beautiful (out of this world) jewelry was created for my by my friend Andria. She is an artist extraordinaire when it comes to the creative use of sea glass in jewelry. She took some of the seaglass that I have collected from our travels and added some of my favorite beads and embellishments. I really do feel like a princess wearing her fabulous creations! Andria has beautiful jewelry in her shop - and she will be happy to work with you and create a special order using your own seaglass if you like. Thank you dear Andria - you know I LOVE these so much!

Down to the business of drawing winners here! You know Maddy girl loves to do this! First she had to check it all out and verify that the contest was fair and square!

Then she has to mix them all up! She is totally intrigued by the little slips of paper! At eighteen months old - Maddy girl can count to 10!

Should have seen that coming! Well - that's one way to mix them up! She said uh oh!




Maddy picks the winners for the Pottery Barn dishes and the "way cute" red bird tote bag. The decision of the judge (Maddy girl) is final!!

~~~

And the winners are~~~

(keep reading~~)

~~~

So many people have asked - so I want to explain. Maddy is the daughter of my sweet niece, Treva. She is in the same age range as our grandchildren Kerri Beth and Mason - so we consider that she is our grandchild. We love them all the same. Mason and Kerri Beth live some distance away - (so sad!) Maddy girl lives just right down the road. Whenever anyone asks how many grandchildren I have - I say "3". (Now seriously - don't you think I am too YOUNG to be a grandmother of 3!!!)

(OK - don't answer that~~!)

Now that tiara is coming off! She is ready for CAKE!!!

Well, she just had to have a piece of birthday cake. "Cake, cake, eat, eat!" So we stripped her down and let her at it!

This is why we took off her clothes! Trust me - it gets way worse!

Birthday kisses from my sweet Maddy girl! (just a little sticky!)

And the winner of the Pottery Barn dishes (2 plates and 2 mugs) is Michelle! Sweet Michelle is one of my devoted followers and her comments always make me smile! Way to go Michelle - send me your mailing address girlfriend!

~~~

And the winner of the special gift for my followers is Kathy!
Congrats dear friend - I have also included some special little surprises in your tote bag - so I hope you enjoy this special gift from me to you! Send me your address!

~~~

I am so fortunate to have such wonderful and generous blogging friends. That I would make such friendships with so many people from all over the world is a part of this blogging journey that I did not ever even imagine. My friendships now are scattered all over this world. I believe that I am the luckiest person in that I have met so many talented, creative, generous, and genuinely good, good people. I love you all~~~

This wonderful box of birthday surprises came to me a few days ago from my friend Myriam who lives in Germany. She made this beautiful heart of dried roses for me. Also included in this birthday surprise are some wonderful apricot candies, my favorite (to die for!) latte mixes and some mineral water crystals. Thank you dear Myriam for such a wonderful birthday surprise - a heartfelt gift from a dear friend on the other side of the world.

My friend Susan made these lovely birds for me - and they are just adorable. She calls them "birds on a stick" - and I call them precious! Susan has a lovely and delightful blog - you must visit her and have a look around. She is very creative! Thank you my friend for these lovely little treasures!

~~~

~~~

~~~

From my sweet Gardener - some lovely yarns (which I choose) on our recent trip to Atlanta. Feza Alp and Ironstone Pizazz - if you know yarns, then you totally know that there is a small fortune (over $100) in these little bundles of FABULOUS yarns. If you are on the "nesting" lists - you will most assuredly see these again!

August is almost here (GASP!!) - and with that is the start of the "nesting " season - again! You are looking at my recent purchases from our trip to Atlanta and Asheville. Beautiful yarns for nesting~~~.

~~~

Actually - I have already started making the nests - and a few have already been delivered to happy homes. If you are on my August list - you will hear from me as soon as your nest is finished. Any of you are welcome to email me at any time to check about your place on the list and for an update on the status of your anticipated nest. I check my emails every day. I am anticipating that it will take me 7 weeks to make all of the nests that so many of you are eagerly waiting for. I promise that you will not be disappointed~~~

How absolutely divine are these glass bird cloches? Would they not be perfect for one of my little nests? I fell in love with these when I first saw them and I just had to share this picture with you all. You can order these from Wisteria and right now they are on summer clearance. So hurry!

~~

Congratulations to the lucky winners - Michelle and Kathy! My next giveaway will be coming up this fall - something absolutely unheard of in blog land! A "little" something for my devoted readers and of course something very special for my followers. Here is your little hint - (I hope you like sand between your toes!)

~~

Coming up next - a sneak preview of ????

Vicki

"APapaw"

When you spend time with a toddler, your day is a whirlwind of laughing, running, clapping, giggling, HICCUPS, eating (always eating!), kissing, hugging, playing silly games, ~~~



We recently traveled to Atlanta to visit our little (almost 2 years old) Mason. For those of you who, like us, live some distance away from your grandchildren - you know all too well how hard it is to miss seeing them often.
~~
Mason is talking really well now - and he can say anything that you voice to him - BUT - whenever he says any word, he puts an "A" in front of it. We have reasoned this out as when someone talks to him , they say, "look Mason - a doggie, or a truck, or a kitty." So - that is exactly what he says now. We all think he is adorable and we are saying that he is our little "French boy!"

" APapaw"


~~~

"abubble"

~~~

~~~

~~~

~~~

~~~

"achair"

"atiger"

We bought this little rolling suitcase for Mason and he LOVED it! He just had to roll it around and carry it everywhere we went over the next few days!

~~~

While we were there for our visit Mason must have said "apapaw" about a million times - he said "gb" - ONCE! Now I ask you - what is fair about that!

" awaffle"

~~~

"agiggles"

"aturtle"

(is this really a picture of me first thing in the morning - no make up - in my pajamas? Have I no shame?) The things you do to show a picture of you having fun with your adorable grandson! (at least they are cute pajamas - that should count for something!)

"asilly"

"aTex"

Mason's kitty cat

"aairplane"

Mason's Papaw loves to fly model airplanes - so we took Mason to a local hobby shop. He was totally fascinated by the airplanes and trucks and boats! This was the perfect place for him as he was totally enthralled with seeing the models. This little visit made both Mason and his Papaw very happy!

"a doggie"

After a little encouragement from his Papaw - Mason soon made best friend's with the shop doggie!

~~~

~~~

"asmiles"

~~~

~~~

"atruck"

~~~

"aplay"

We kept Mason by ourselves all day! He really enjoyed the play station at the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. (his gb really loved the black and white tall, light, extra shot of espresso mocha frappucinno - with just a dab of light whipped cream on top - and oh yea, the chocolate syrup too, because - why not !)

~~~

~~~

"aice cream"

~~~

"ayarn "

OF COURSE we visited several (3 to be exact!) local yarn shops - and Mason was my big helper there! (You might observe that this is GREEN yarn - now I wonder just why that is?)

"APapaw" is showing Mason how guys wait for girls when they go to yarn shops!

Yarn shops that have play areas for children - totally rock!

~~~

These last two pictures (above and below) were taken at my absolute favorite yarn shop - Yarn Garden in Lawrenceville, Ga. The folks here are so nice and they have a wonderful selection of yarns. If you are local to the Atlanta area - you MUST go here! And when you do - be sure to say Hello to Shirley - she will be your new best friend! Her smile lights up the whole shop!

~~

This really is just a fabulous yarn shop. After I visit next, I am going to do a blog posting on this fun and beautiful place. (At that time - the owner has agreed to offer a special one time discount for my readers.) So - be sure to be watching for this posting - coming up in the next several weeks.

~~~

~~~

"astairs"

We took Mason to a local airport that had a small playground. He was all about this slicky slide! One of his silly games was to push his gb up the stairs and then push me down the slide. (NO - no pictures of me going down a slicky slide!)

~~~

"aswing"

actually - he was not all about the swing!

"aMama"

~~~

Mason hardly would stand still all day! But when he say this huge blow up photo of a plane cockpit - Mason just ran right over there and stood totally still for us to take his picture! We really wanted his "APapaw" to be in the photo also - but everytime he would try to sneek into the picture - Mason would take his little hands and push him out! He thought he was a really big boy posing for this photo! Go figure!

~~~

"ASLEEP"

~~~

Nothing fills your heart so full of love as spending time with your grandchildren. You are full of energy and exhuberance that you did not even know you had anymore! These are absolutely the most precious and memorable times. AND - at the end of the day - nothing makes you so emphatically say -"oh my gosh - I can't move - I think I might be almost dead!!!"

~~

(it's worth it!)

Vicki